British Airways has added a new direct service from Gatwick to Larnaca, Cyprus.

The service will operate three times a week from 30th June, and is in addition to BA’s existing twice weekly Gatwick to Paphos service.

Peter Simpson, British Airways director Gatwick, said: “Cyprus is a firm favourite with British holiday makers and expatriates alike, and we’re sure families will make the most of our new service to Larnaca when it starts on June 30.

We have plenty of holiday villas in Cyprus. If you want one near BA’s new destination of Larnaca, then you could try this traditional stone built house in Kalavasos, let as a 5 bedroom villa or four large self-contained apartments, each with their own patio or balcony.

Kontoyiannis House dates back to the 1890s. It is built around a cool central courtyard with colourful grape vines, rustic thick stone walls and traditional windows. It’s only 5 minutes to the gorgeous beach and lovely restaurants. Prices start from £275 per week and there is availability later this month and into June.

Food shopping in the countries appears to be the significant difference in expenditure, with supermarkets in Italy, Crete, Corfu and Cyprus more expensive than those in Portugal and Majorca.

Over 15% of those surveyed said they decided on self catering holidays to save more money, yet many still went over their budget on food purchases, highlighting a need to consider local prices when booking a holiday.

The Post Office Travel Money Worldwide Costs Barometer found that on average a bottle of local beer in Portugal cost £1.36 whereas in Italy it cost £2.27. Even going out for dinner was cheaper, with the average evening meal for 2 adults with a bottle of house wine costing £22.73 in Spain, £45.45 in Greece.

Andrew Brown, Post Office head of Travel Money, said: “Although self-catering can be a great way for families to save money, they should choose their destination carefully. Majorca and Portugal are great value options but Greece is looking more expensive.”

He went on to advise that travellers should avoid changing cash at an airport or overseas ATMs as poor exchange rates and charges will cost their budget dearly.

For good quality self catering accommodation, wherever you decide to go, look at Villaseek and for holidays closer to home in the UK, Holiday Cottages.

This year the FCO handled 6,015 arrest cases involving British nationals, compared to 5,700 last year. The statistics also show that Britons are most likely to be arrested in Spain and the US.

Minister of State for Consular Affairs, Jeremy Browne, said: “It is important that people understand that taking risks abroad can land them on the wrong side of the law. The punishments can be very severe, with tougher prison conditions than in the UK. Whilst we will work hard to try and ensure the safety of British nationals abroad, we cannot interfere in another country’s legal system.

“We find that many people are shocked to discover that the FCO cannot get them out of jail. We always provide Consular support to British nationals in difficulty overseas. However, having a British passport does not make you immune to foreign laws and will not get you special treatment in prison.”

In the past year, around half of the arrests involved people under the age of 34. According to anecdotal evidence from Embassies and Consulates overseas, many incidents are alcohol-fuelled, particularly in popular destinations such as mainland Spain, the Canary Islands, Balearics, Malta and Cyprus.

David Thomas, Consular Regional Director covering Spain, based in Madrid, said: “The police on Mallorca and Ibiza have a zero tolerance attitude towards alcohol-fuelled offences and we see many young people being arrested for causing trouble outside bars and clubs at night.”

In contrast, over 70% of arrests in Jamaica, Serbia, Peru and Brazil were drug related.

These figures have been released ahead of the full British Behaviour Abroad report next month.

Astonishingly, nine out of every ten Brits holidaying in Spain this year will have got there on a no-frills airline like easyjet or Ryanair. The percentage for most other European destinations isn’t far behind. And with the budget airlines’ charge for checking in a suitcase ever rising, an increasing number of holidaymakers are taking just what will fit into a cabin bag with maximum dimensions of 55x40x20cm. Ryanair also imposes a 10kg weight limit whereas easyJet allows any weight ‘within reason’.

Ryanair has been especially tough on slightly oversize bags, sometimes creating lengthy departure gate queues as passengers with a cabin bag bulging beyond the max argue with staff then desperately extract enough to slim the bag.

If no-one has yet coined the phrase cabin bag anxiety, it’s time they did. But what the extortionate bag check-in charges do mean is that it’s worth investing in a cabin bag that makes the most of what you’re allowed. Luggage specialist Antler has come up a bag specifically designed for that purpose. It claims the Duolite is the lightest, most durable case it has ever produced. Combining a hybrid ABS and nylon material with a frameless construction, the Duolite is super lightweight, with the cabin case weighing in at just 2.1kg. With dimensions of 55x35x20, it meets most airlines’ cabin bag size limits (but always check before flying).

A weight of 2.1kg probably doesn’t mean much to most people, but we’ve been trying one out and the first thing everyone says is, “Isn’t it light?” The second is that it nevertheless feels well made and strong in a high-tech sort of way, and the third is that it wheels along very easily. So although it has a recommended retail price of £89 (the lowest discounted price we saw online was £84), that could be a worthwhile investment. Our only reservation is that its width of 35cm is actually 5cm, or a couple of inches, less than most airlines allow, so you aren’t quite maximising the allowance. Having said that, the structure of the case intrudes very little into the internal space, which can also be expanded slightly by undoing a zip-fastened gusset extension to give a depth of 23cm if the airline isn’t being too strict. The bag has one zipped external pocket, and comes complete with a TSA padlock (which can be opened by security staff without having to break into the case).

For those trips where a cabin bag just isn’t enough, Antler does two matching suitcases of similar construction. The medium case (67x44x30/33cm) weighs 2.5kg, with a rrp of £105 and the large (74x49x33/36cm) weighs 2.9kg with a rrp of £109. With excess baggage charges of up to £40 per kilo, the two kilos or so saved compared with a typical case could almost pay for these cases, which all come with a 10-year warranty. Further details and stockists at www.antler.co.uk

In 15 years, British company easyJet has created one of Europe’s key transport networks, operating on 45 of Europe’s top 100 routes, with 19 bases across 28 countries, and a fleet of 182 aircraft. This year it will have carried 50 million passengers on over 500 routes between 119 airports in 29 countries. It’s the UK’s largest and Europe’s fourth largest airline by passenger numbers. In 2009, the airline carried 28 million passengers in the UK and 46 million in total.

In recent research by flight search engine Skyscanner there are some differences between the actual cost and value of a holiday in comparison to what people generally perceive for certain holiday destinations.

Skyscanner asked around 1,500 people several questions about how they view different holiday destinations around the world. The first question asked was to note whether a country in a list of 30 was ‘cheap’ or ‘expensive’. Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Denmark topped the list. However, research into the actual cost of holidaying in each country revealed that, the priciest hot-spot was actually France.

Brazil was perceived to be just outside the top ten cheapest places to visit, when in actual fact it was the fourth most expensive, along with Russia as the fifth, which was also viewed as a cheaper destination.

When it came to asking people about the cheapest places, the perception was a lot closer to the reality with respondents correctly identifying places such as Thailand and Morocco as some of the cheapest.

According to the price research the most budget-friendly countries currently are Cyprus, Greece, South Africa, Dominican Republic and Morocco.

Results changed however, when the cost of flights were incorporated into the mix, long haul destinations made for more expensive destinations in total, such as New Zealand shooting from the top ten cheapest destinations, to one of the top ten most expensive!

I’ve put the whole research below to help you make your own mind up about where to go on holiday if budget is a factor:

More than two million holidaymakers are set to travel this Easter weekend.

Spain is the favourite country for people going abroad, with the Canary Islands – and Tenerife in particular – the most popular, according to ABTA.

Egypt has continued with its recent popularity and Tunisia and Turkey have also sold well.

Snow sports attract enthusiasts to Geneva to access the Alpine resorts of Switzerland, France and Italy.

Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Milan and New York are the top five city break destinations.

People are travelling to the Channel Islands and cottages in Cornwall, East Anglia and the North of England if they are staying in the UK.

ABTA chairman John McEwan said: “Easter is the traditional curtain raiser to the summer and I am delighted to see that hundreds of thousands of our customers are taking the opportunity to take a well earned break both here in the UK and overseas.”

We’ve got an expanding villa sales section on Villaseek. At the moment, we’re listing vacation properties for sale in the USA, Spain, Turkey and Cyprus. There’s also a collection of properties for sale in Tuscany.

The Spanish villa sales section is particularly busy, with properties including a large Townhouse in Orba, with its own private pool, situated near Denia. There’s also a collection of villas for sale in Mallorca and Menorca.